From the Director of Mission, Phillip Davis
The inaugural Waverley College Spirituality Evening took place on Wednesday, 15 March, in the School Library. Around thirty students, staff and parents were in attendance and were engaged by our guest speakers, Mr Matt King, Fr Bernie Thomas ofm, Br Robert O’Connor fms and Ms Patricia Thomas.
Our speakers tackled the question “Religion. Why Bother!?” from different yet fascinating perspectives. Presentations from the speakers were followed by a meal and then a Q & A Session. The night was highly successful and thoroughly enjoyed by those who attended.
The overarching theme that came through from all of the speakers was how important community was to their spirituality. Fr Bernie stated, “through prayer, we build community” and Matt King complemented this statement by talking about how, during his rugby career, as both player and coach, he has felt the solidarity between teammates strengthen through prayer and their mutual respect of each other’s faiths. Br Bob O’Connor examined the Parable of the Prodigal Son making it relevant to our students today. Patricia Thomas spoke about how we are created in the image of God and that even though we make mistakes we are “continually restored to our human dignity and relationship with God”.
In a sense all speakers could be “bothered with religion” because they believe that religion provides the framework through which the spirit of God continues to work.
I would like to thank Ms Rebecca Curran for her organisation of the event and ensuring the evening ran smoothly. I would also like to thank the eight Spirituality Prefects: Jake Thomas (Tevlin), Tom Andrianakos (Quinn), Angus Mattick (O’Connor), Joe Nardo (Lacey), Ben Howard, (Green), Jackson Flynn (Conlon), Angus Mullins (Brennan), and Eric Cordato (Aungier), and also Wellbeing Prefect Joel Ellis (Aungier) and Vice-Captains Ben Donaldson and Finn O’Sullivan who all did an outstanding job in regard to welcoming, prayer, introducing guest speakers, taking photos and cleaning up.
